He opened his eyes slowly, his hope fading with the last remnants of sleep. His entire body ached from a combination of too little blood and too much physical exertion while his upper arm itched madly from where he'd been injected with the Order's drug.

It wasn't until he went to scratch it that he realized none of it had been a dream.

She'd come to him, he'd told her everything, and the world had carried on. While the future was still uncertain, it seemed as though things had finally started to move in the right direction. Now it was simply a matter of finding out if she'd stayed in the guestroom or had gone home. After he found her, he'd work on putting things right with Jacob, though he hadn't quite worked out what it would take to be granted forgiveness.

With a lightened heart he nearly jumped out of bed and found himself face to face with a sharpened stake.

Tristan: "Fucking Christ…"
Jacob: "You left me for dead."
Tristan: "Jacob, listen to me…"
Jacob: "Not a fast death, either."

Tristan: "There's no need for any more violence."
Jacob: "Do you know what it's like to burn to death?"
Tristan: "I swear to you, Jacob -- I wasn't in control of anything I did to you last night. That doesn't excuse what happened, but you need to know. There aren't words for how sorry I am."
Jacob: "People become very remorseful when facing their own mortality."

Tristan: "It's not just that, I'd be apologizing even if you didn't have that stake aimed at my heart."
Jacob: "Shut up!"

Tristan flinched at Jacob's sudden outburst.

Tristan: "Let's just calm down and we can talk about this."
Jacob: "You tried to kill me, you son of a bitch!"

Tristan ducked and stumbled backwards as Jacob threw himself forward, the stake swinging down with deadly force. It narrowly missed its target, and he felt a rising panic as his attacker was quickly coming at him again with a frightening single-mindedness.

The kid was fast -- faster than Tristan thought possible. It'd always been his understanding that a vampire's powers grew as they aged, starting out with somewhat heightened senses and stamina that built up over the decades, but Jacob seemed to defy that.

He also seemed to always be two steps ahead.

Tristan made a leap for the bedroom door but found himself effortlessly knocked to the ground, staring up into mad red eyes. He hoped for some sort of speech, maybe even a long rambling dialogue, anything to buy himself time to figure out how to get out of the situation, but Jacob stayed silently fixated on his goal.

Emily: "Jacob!"

Tristan wasted no time struggling to his feet in the split second Jacob was distracted. For an instant there was a wash of confusion across his face, almost as if he were unsure what he was seeing was real.

Emily: "Sweetie, put the stake down."
Jacob: "No."
Emily: "Listen to me, this isn't going to solve anything. You don't want to do this."
Jacob: "Yes, it will, and yes, I do."

Emily briefly caught Tristan's eye, her fear carefully hidden beneath a mask of calm. Only her fiercely pounding heart betrayed her true feelings. She stepped forward slowly toward Jacob, who stood watching her with distrust.

Emily: "Give me the stake, Jacob. Please."
Jacob: "No!"
Emily: "You need to calm down-"

Everything seemed to be suddenly moving in slow motion. Tristan saw Jacob beginning to move toward Emily with blind rage, screaming incoherently. Her face was still expressionless, though instinctively had begun to step to one side. There was no way she was going to be fast enough to get out of his way.

Tristan felt like he was no longer in control of his own actions as he lunged forward, throwing his weight into Jacob only a fraction of a second before he reached Emily.

An awkward and strangled bellow escaped from Jacob's throat as he hit the floor. Emily crouched down beside him and quickly wrapped her arms around him in an attempt to calm him down, speaking in a quiet soothing voice as he continued to struggle against the two of them.

Emily: "It's OK, everything's going to be all right. It's all over now."
Jacob: "Let go of me! You can't do this to me!"
Emily: "Shh… Look at me, Jacob. It's me, it's Emily."
Jacob: "Let. Me. Go!"
Emily: "I'll let you go when you've calmed down some, but not before. I don't want you hurting yourself."

Jacob responded by screeching madly and struggling harder. Tristan was surprised by how strong he was, almost managing to break free from his hold on several occasions. Emily was holding her own, but was clearly tiring very quickly.

Just as Tristan was starting to wish the rope he kept under his bed were a bit closer, Jacob stopped struggling. He wondered at first if it were a ploy to get them to drop their guard, but quickly noticed that both the madness and fight seemed to have drained from the boy's eyes.

Emily continued to hold Jacob, rocking slightly as she wiped a stray strand of hair from his face. It was such a clearly maternal gesture that Tristan was left feeling foolish about his earlier assumptions. He slowly loosened his grip, but remained ready to grab him again if needed.

Emily: "You'll be OK, Jacob. We won't let anything happen to you."
Tristan: "Do you need anything? A glass of water?"

Jacob remained eerily quiet, merely shaking his head before standing up. His gaze was fixed steadily on the floor until he turned and began to walk out of the room without announcement.

Emily: "Hey, where are you going?"
Jacob: "Home."
Emily: "Are you sure?"
Jacob: "I know where I'm going."

Emily: "I mean are you going to be all right to drive?"
Jacob: "I have to be. I need to feed Mr. Twinkles."
Emily: "I can call Mary and have her check in on her if you'd like. I mean she won't really want to but I'll make her. Or maybe Tristan could drive us both home."
Jacob: "I'm fine."

Tristan: "With all due respect, you just tried to kill us. 'Fine' isn't the first word that comes to mind. It's not even the third or fourth."
Jacob: "I wasn't going to kill Emily, just you."
Tristan: "That's reassuring, thanks."

Emily: "Jacob, honey, you don't have to be alone. We know you didn't know what you were doing, it's OK."
Jacob: "I knew perfectly well what I was doing."
Tristan: "Again with the fantastic reassurances."

Jacob turned and calmly left without another word. Emily tried to follow, but Tristan stopped her before she'd taken more than a single step.

Tristan: "I don't think you should follow him right away. I get the impression he needs some breathing room right now."
Emily: "We can't just let him leave! What if something happens to him on the way home? What if he gets home and does something stupid?"
Tristan: "I'm sure he'll make it back fine. He made it out here, right?"
Emily: "Yes, but that was before he had a complete psychotic episode."

Tristan: "Not to sound callus, but I think he's learned to deal with those by now. Listen, if it'll make you feel better I'd be happy to take you home right after I get dressed and we can both check in on him. I'd like to at least try to apologize for what I did to him when he's in a bit of a better state of mind to hear it."
Emily: "OK. I just hope he'll be all right."
Tristan: "So do I."

Emily: "You're taking this all really well."
Tristan: "I think I may still be in a state of shock actually. Or maybe I'm still dreaming from yesterday. I'll tell you this much, I'll be sleeping with one eye open for a while."
Emily: "Why? Are you afraid of what I might do to you?"

Tristan was caught off guard by the mischievous glint in Emily's eyes.

Tristan: "'Afraid' isn't quite the word I'd use."
Emily: "No?"
Tristan: "Not even close."

Tristan pulled away hesitantly as an odd wave of dizziness hit him. The room appeared to dim substantially, while gravity seemed to grow considerably stronger.

Emily: "Are you OK? You're shaking like a leaf!"
Tristan: "I'm trying not to black out, but I should be fine. I need to… I just need blood."
Emily: "Do you need me to bring you some?"
Tristan: "No, I can make it to the kitchen. I just have to remember to apply 'stop being stupid' to every area of my life, including sustenance."
Emily: "That would be a very wise course of action, I'd think."

Tristan: "Emily?"
Emily: "Yeah?"
Tristan: "I'm really glad you came."
Emily: "I am, too. Now, get yourself fed before you pass out. Then you should probably get dressed so we can check up on Jacob."
Tristan: "Yes ma'am."